Runaway
by LoveWithoutLust
Summary: Once finding out her little sister had ran off in the middle of the night, Yang was more than just worried. Embarking on a journey to find Ruby, she promised she would ensure Ruby's safety. Though far more often than preferred, a certain yellow-eyed Faunus plagues her mind. Will she get over it, or will it only ruin her and her journey to find her sister? Spoiler Warning. Feedback?
1. Yang Finds Out

Yang had woken up early and noticed Ruby wasn't up either. Come to think of it, she hasn't seen Ruby at all. Not since Yang and her talked about Weiss and Blake the day before. A breath hitched in her throat at the thought of her Faunus friend. She shook the thought out of her mind and approached Ruby's room, knocking softly. When there was no answer, she tried the knob. Unlocked, good. She went in to see that Ruby wasn't in bed. Ruby must have been downstairs with their father.

She rubbed the back of her head and trudged down the steps to the living room. Ruby wasn't in here, either. No problem, must be in the kitchen. She pushed away the curtain separating the living room from the kitchen and saw her father.

"Hey, dad." She didn't see her hyper little sister. "Where's Ruby?"

Taiyang slipped a slip of paper towards her, and she saw the sadness in his blue eyes. Yang picked the letter up cautiously, as if it were going to combust at the slightest incorrect movement. She read over it, how Ruby was going to find something; though she didn't specify what. How she didn't want to worry them, but she had to do something to right what she felt she did wrong. Yang repeatedly shook her head at the letter.

"She can't be going. What happened wasn't her fault! I have to go after her."

"Yang, that's not wise." His voice was cool, but slightly shaky.

"Dad, I have to go after her. She's my sister!"

"Yang, you can barely get up in the morning. It's not safe."

"Safe or not, I have to protect my baby sister. I have to protect Ruby!"

"You could get hurt."

"So could she!"

"Yang-"

"Dad, I don't know what I-" She took a breath and continued, "I don't know what I'd do if she ever got hurt and I wasn't there to protect her. I know she's your daughter, but she's my sister. She's a kid, she's seen so much death and so much pain. I can't let her do this alone. Even if it's unsafe, we'll be together."

"You read the letter, she isn't alone. She's with-"

"Yeah, she's with Jaune, Nora, and Ren." She took a deep breath. "But she's not their baby sister, Dad. She's my sister, I have to protect her."

"Yang, you only have one arm. You're an amputee, what makes you think fighting will save either of you? What if you lose both arms, Yang? Please, think this through."

"I may be an amputee, but I'd sooner lose both my arms than let anything happen to her! Dad, I have to go. I have to find her. I have to find her and I have to _protect_ her. I couldn't protect Penny or Pyrrha or even Blake. I have an obligation to Ruby. Not just an obligation, I want to protect her. I want my little sister with me. Even if I don't make it in the end, I have to know she will. Or that I at least ensured she'll live longer than I do!"

Taiyang sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to talk Yang out of this. "Fine, Yang. But be careful. Please. I don't want to lose either, or worse- both, of you."

Yang hugged him, "I'll be careful. I will do anything and _everything_ in my power to protect Ruby. I promise."

"I know you will, Yang." He whispered softly, tightening his grip around the blonde teenager.

She pulled away from their hug, and looked at him again before rushing upstairs. She grabbed a survival-purpose backpack, and threw clothes in haphazardly. She looked at the metal bracer she wore when she was in battle. She didn't know if she was strong enough to wear it again, and furthermore; didn't know if she'd be able to wear it at all. She packed it anyways, as well as a sword she had gotten practicing at Signal before she found the bracer. The sword would be handy if she were to get in combat and wasn't able to wear aforementioned bracer.

She got to the bathroom and packed her pain meds that the doctor had given her for her arm, as well as bandages and antibiotics. She also packed a brush for her sometimes unruly blonde mane. After raiding the house for packing, she finally got to the front door. Taiyang stood and said his goodbyes. She opened the door, then looked back at him.

"I _will_ bring Ruby home."


	2. A Grimm's Cabin

After about six hours of walking through the streets, Yang came across a cabin. She knocked on the door, but no answer came. She circled the perimeter to find that one of the windows were broken. She traced the broken glass and barely flinched when she felt the blood trickle down her finger. She brought her elbow into the barely held-together glass window, and broke it fully. She looked inside, it was pretty dark and if not for the light of day, it would have been pitch black inside.

She climbed inside, looking around. The dark oak wood creaked beneath her feet as she wandered around the musty, abandoned room. A few picture frames hung helplessly over a brick fireplace, dust clinging to them. She heard more creaking, but it wasn't from her. She stopped dead in her tracks. The creaking got louder and then it stopped right behind her. She turned around very slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves.

Red eyes met purple. A beowolf versus a human amputee. She drew her sword slowly, as to not provoke the larger animal. The beowolf cocked its head to the side curiously, but didn't make a move. She walked backwards to create space between the two and held up the sword, the tip just barely touching the beowolf's white and red bone on its head.

The beowolf stood on it's back, and went to claw at her. Yang just barely avoided its blow and slashed the sword against the padding of the paw. Blood trickled on the ground as the Grimm cried out in pain and frustration. She ran towards the wall that was now in front of her, letting the Grimm charge at her. She jumped on the wall and flipped backwards over the Grimm. She saw her sister do this a hundred times, so it filled her with confidence when she ran the sword through the back of the neck. It screamed at first, but silenced when the sword pierced through. It twitched then stilled completely.

Yang pulled her sword out of the creature and sheathed it after wiping the blood off onto a cloth. The blonde hopped off of the black creature and onto the creaking floor. Instead of staying to investigate further, she decided to exit the same way she entered. It was starting to get dark, so she set up camp. She felt something trickle down her calf, and pulled her pant leg up to reveal a pretty deep gash. _The damn thing must have gotten_ _me when I jumped over it. Adrenaline probably masked any pain._

Yang got a few bandages and some ointments. She got her cooking pot, and boiled water- from the stream nearby- over the fire. She dropped a rag in the boiling water, jumping away when it splashed near her. About after five minutes, she used a pair of tongs (she honestly had no idea why she thought tongs would be useful in anything other than food) to grab the incredibly steamed cloth out of the pot of water, and onto a boulder nearby.

In the meanwhile, while she found something to staunch the bleeding, she sat down. Yang pulled out her wallet and flipped through the pictures. There was one of her and Ruby making silly faces. She remembered that day, it was Beacon's first picture day and everyone was stoked. Weiss was so hell bent on making herself look classy and sophisticated. _Ruby wasn't having any of that_. She thought to herself and chuckled as the memory projected itself in her head.

" _Guys! Come here! Velvet's taking pictures of everyone!"_

 _Ruby pulled Yang's wrist and posed in front of Velvet's camera with a silly smile. Yang stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes. Velvet giggled and snapped the picture. Ignoring Weiss' protests, Ruby dragged her in front of the camera. She jumped on Weiss' back, causing Ice Queen to grunt, and made a rock sign with her hands, sticking her tongue out. It was Blake's turn, and she didn't bother arguing with the smaller girl. Blake let Ruby on her back, and gave the camera a half smile while Ruby flashed an ear splitting grin. Yang smiled at her little sister and best friend's happiness. When the picture was taken, Ruby got off Blake's back and shoved Yang to Blake._

" _Bumbleby Picture!"_

 _Blake smiled a heartwarming smile and wrapped an arm around Yang's shoulder, pulling her closer. Yang grinned and wrapped a strong arm around Blake's waist and flashed a smile at Velvet's camera. When the flash went off, Ruby dragged Weiss with her into the frame. RWBY PICTURE, she called it._

Yang blinked a few times, noticing there were small drops of water on the photos. She wiped her eyes, and sighed heavily. _Those were the days_. She checked on the rag and it seemed hot enough to still use, but not too hot to wear it will burn her. She unwrapped the gauze around her uncleaned gash, and cleaned the cut with the hot rag and hydrogen peroxide. It stung pretty badly, but the pain subsided into a sense of relief. She set the rag and ointment to the side and wrapped a bandage around the now cleaned wound. Yang decided to call it a night and tucked herself into her sleeping bag and went to sleep.


	3. Nightmares

_The sun had just set, and the night was getting darker by the minute. Team RWBY and Team JNPR had just set up camp while Penny was gathering wood for the fire. Ruby and Jaune were hanging out, joking around. Ren was leaning against the tree, listening intently to Nora chattering about. Pyrrha was tending to the fire and talking to Blake and Weiss. Yang smiled at the group having fun. She heard a crunching sound, and got up to go investigate._

" _Something wrong, Yang?" Blake said._

" _No, Blake. Just going to explore a bit." Yang responded._

 _Blake seemed to accept the answer and went back to Pyrrha and Weiss. Yang continued her walk towards the source of the aforementioned sound. She continually pawed away the branches that were threatening to get tangled in her hair, and looked around. She thought she must have been hearing things and went back to the campsite. When she got back to the campsite, everything was gone. The fire was out, the tents were no longer there, and the group? Might as well have vanished into thin air._

" _Blake? Ruby? Weiss?" She called out, but the darkness only remained silent. "Jaune, Pyrrha, anyone home?" Silence was the only answer she got._

 _Worriedly, she started looking around when she saw something. A light, more like an orb. She wasn't sure what it was, but when she got close, she saw it was fire. The orb of fire grew larger and larger til it formed into a person. It took the shape of a woman with long dark grey hair and piercing orange eyes. She wore a crimson dress with gold patterns. Yang didn't have to think before she whispered the name of the form._

" _Cinder."_

 _Suddenly, the figure dematerialized into several figures of the different shapes. One looked just like the one that she just saw. It had a bow and arrow and was fighting Pyrrha. Another was a tall, light skinned guy with fiery hair fighting Ruby. Another, light pink and brown hair with eyes to match coming right for her. Right for Yang. Only just as she got close, she disappeared into a thin fog. Everyone was gone again, only when she took a step forward and shook her head free of the mist; she saw them._

 _Pyrrha was lying on her back with an arrow through her chest, dead with a heart in her left hand. Weiss was nearly ripped apart by a Grimm. Jaune clutched his chest, and Yang saw a hole where Jaune's heart was supposed to be. Penny was ripped apart brutally, mechanical limbs strewn about. Blake was beheaded, body barely kept together. And then Ruby. Ruby was lying in a pool of her own blood, eyes rolled back with bullet holes in her body._

 _Yang felt someone watching her and turned around. She saw Adam, Cinder, and Mercury grinning evilly at her. What came from behind them was too much for Yang to bear. It was Blake, only Blake had glowing red eyes and sharpened incisors. Yang couldn't move as Blake stalked towards her. Blake lifted a hand, and caressed Yang's face._

" _Oh dear Yang. You couldn't possibly think_ I _was dead, did you?" Claws shot out from her hand and into Yang's face. Yang winced, but didn't cry. "Did you not remember my semblance?" The last thing Yang saw was a grin too evil for it to be Blake._


	4. Author's Note

AUTHOR'S NOTE :D

So this damn website won't let me post links, so just go to thegirlwithacrownofthorns tumblr for Runaway if isn't uploaded yet. (I might take longer for because I literally go to tumblr more than , so literally, just go to the tumblr if you want immediate uploads and can't wait.)


	5. She Left

Yang shot up from her sleep, panting heavily. She wiped the sweat off her brow, trying to slow her breathing down. After about ten minutes, her panic finally subsided. The sun was just rising, and a small ray of dawn's sunlight shone down on the camp. Yang decided to tear down camp and keep moving. When she was done with camp, she decided to check her gash. It had healed quite a bit, but it was helpful to change the bandage and clean it again.

When her bandage was changed and her wound cleaned, she started her journey on finding her sister. She started humming to herself a tune that Ruby always sang when Ruby went through a tough time. Yang usually heard it when Ruby thought nobody else was awake in Team RWBY's dorm. Ruby obviously missed her mom, she would talk to her at night. Yang didn't want Ruby to know she was awake, so she feigned sleep as she listened to the shallow crying of her fifteen year old sister. She wanted to hold Ruby and tell her it was okay, but she didn't want Ruby to think she was having pity taken on her. Yang knew how much Ruby _despised_ pity.

Underneath her tough exterior, Yang was ultimately a softie and wanted nothing more than to sit and cry with her sister. To eat pints of ice cream while listening to sad music. She decided against it, because she assigned herself the task of being strong for Ruby. She couldn't afford to be weak when Ruby needed a rock to keep her grounded. This often led to her acting way tougher than she felt; because her sister needed her.

Though, if she could help it, Yang tried acting tough for everyone. She made herself be happy, and for the most part, she was; but now- now she had very little energy. She couldn't muster the energy to be hopeful and optimistic anymore. Every positive thought was corrupted by the cruel hands of creeping depression. Feeling the slight bit of negativity, Yang pulled out her wallet to look at a photo to try to motivate herself. Honestly, she knew depression didn't fade that easily, because if it did, she'd look at a million pictures.

She flipped through the photos and found one of Ruby at her first day at Beacon. How excited and nervous and shy she was, how willing she was to follow Yang around like a puppy. How Ruby hid behind Yang because Weiss intimidated her. How Yang pushed Ruby to make friends and ended up falling for- wait, did she fall for Blake? The yellow-eyed Faunus? She couldn't have, right? They were friends. Very good, close friends. Emphasis on the word, were. If Blake cared, would she have left?

Blake left. She was there, and she was fighting Adam. And then Yang tried to save Blake. She felt the arm come off. She felt lost. She fell unconscious and the last thing she saw was the yellow dulling out in Blake's cat eyes. And then? Then she left. She ran away. Yang felt the bubble of anger and sadness pop inside her, and she threw a punch at a tree. A hand just barely caught her fist.

"Wouldn't want to break the only fist you can use, right?" A familiar voice brought Yang from her thoughts.

"Emerald?"


End file.
